Marieke Guehrer captures ten gold medals at the 2011 Australian University Games - Part 8
With an exceptional effort in the 100m freestyle, Marieke Guehrer was now leading towards her relay events on third day of the 2011 Australian University Games. The relay events were scheduled in the second-half of the session, as the meet was going to conclude
after the completion of relay events in Men’s and Women’s category.
Guehrer had already captured eight gold medals of the championship, which included six individual gold medals and six record improvements. After clinching the gold medal of 100m freestyle, Guehrer became the fastest swimmer of the event and was now the closer
to the 4*50m freestyle relay title.
She was accompanied by her team-members, Jessica Morrison, Grace Loh and Nicole Lyttle. Being University of Melbourne’s second fastest freestyle swimmer, Morrison became the starter of the race. Loh was named to swim in second place, while Lyttle being the
weakest among her team-members, was positioned for the third spot.
Just like the 4*100m freestyle, Melbourne’s team was eyeing the championship record of the event, set by University of Queensland in 2010.
Morrison dived into the pool after the start and gained a recognisable lead over her competitors, which provided as a competitive edge to her following team-member, Loh. Subsequently, Loh did the same and enhanced the lead by showering her expertise in the
one-lap sprint.
Lyttle was lucky enough to prevent the lead from getting damaged as she remained in the same pace and handed the charge to Guehrer. The team was already going well under the record time but with the dazzling efforts of Guehrer, who increased her distance
from her competitors, Melbourne’s team recorded a combined effort of 1 minute and 49.18 seconds.
Their effort was 2.98 seconds under the previous mark 1 minute and 52.16 seconds, made by Queensland. Nevertheless, the second spot of the relay event was secured by QLD University of Technology, who was 3.95 seconds behind the winners, producing an effort
of 1 minute and 53.13 seconds for silver medal.
University of Queensland failed to defend their title but successfully managed to secure the podium for third position, clocking a time of 1 minute and 55.62 seconds. They were 2.49 seconds slower than the silver medallists, but remained in a lead of 3.28
seconds over their following team, Monash University.
After a while, Guehrer again appeared on the starting blocks for the short distance medley relay, where she was going to swim the butterfly leg. The team had only one change when compared to the previous squad, as Nicole Lyttle was replaced by Samantha Marshall,
who was the breast-stroke specialist of the team.
With the mind-blowing efforts of all team-members, University of Melbourne won the gold medal of 4*50m medley relay event in a new record time of 1 minute and 57.71 seconds.
With the completion of final event of the session, Guehrer collected her tenth gold medal of the championship. The arena appreciated her splendid efforts in the three-day competition, while she collected her awards after the session.
Furthermore, with her marvellous efforts throughout the competition, Guehrer sent a clear message to her superiors that she is looking forward to confirm her spot in the Australian team to represent her country at elite levels of swimming.
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